Epic "Saddened" by Gears of War 3 Leak

[Logan Westbrook]

Epic "Saddened" by Gears of War 3 Leak

July's leak means that people saw Gears of War 3 at something other than its best, says the game's executive producer.

Epic's Rod Fergusson says that he was saddened and frustrated by the news that a leaked build [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111433-Gears-of-War-3-Hits-the-Torrent-Tubes] of Gears of War 3 [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002I0H79C/ref=s9_simh_gw_p63_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=08Z4SPAD3VHSZDGF61S5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846] had found its way onto torrent sites early last month, and that he can't understand what would make someone spoil an experience for themselves.

Fergusson said that the leaked version was a very early build, and so wasn't representative of the game's final quality. However, he said that it was sad that some people's first experience with the game was not as Epic intended, and not at the game's best. He said that he understood that die-hard fans were hungry for information, but compared the situation to watching a "making of" documentary for a movie you hadn't seen, or being shown how a magic trick worked before seeing the trick.

Fortunately for Epic, the game being exclusive to the Xbox 360 meant that the leak was much smaller than it could have been, as only appropriately modified consoles could play the build. Obviously, videos of the content could make their way online, but Fergusson said that Epic was very diligent about tracking them down and having them removed.

He also said that anyone who watched videos of the leak had no right to complain about having things spoiled. "I get people going, 'oh no, I just watched this thing on YouTube and it's totally given away something'. And I go, 'well, why did you go looking and why did you watch it?'"

Gears of War 3 comes out for Xbox 360 on September 20th.

Source: EDGE [http://www.next-gen.biz/features/rod-fergusson-interview?page=4]








Permalink

 

[AndyFromMonday]

How the hell does a game actually get leaked? I mean unless you host the game itself online there is absolutely no way a leak could happen. Yeah, an employee could leak the game but is your job really worth it?

 

[WilliamRLBaker]

How the hell does a game actually get leaked? I mean unless you host the game itself online there is absolutely no way a leak could happen. Yeah, an employee could leak the game but is your job really worth it?

well not just employee's but employee's at microsoft, courriers...etc
there are alot of links in the chain between studios, stuido heads, execs, testers...etc so anywhere in that link it could have been leaked or even a email account hacked and the alpha or beta version taken.

 

[Roserari]

And I go, 'well, why did you go looking and why did you watch it?'"

Because people are morons.

And, honestly, this article is about a rather obvious subject, if you ask me. It's not like they're going to be overjoyed.

 

[Saulkar]

Seriously?! Did no one see this coming?

 

[unacomn]

I can understand, these damned PC pira... wait.

 

[ph0b0s123]

Stop developing GOW for PC due to FUD of piracy. Get piracy on the 'safe' 360 instead. Karma / irony can suck sometimes....

 

[Treblaine]

Wow, their console exclusive game got pirated MONTHS before release.

"The person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card is a person who is savvy enough to know all the elements so they can pirate software. Therefore, high-end videogames are suffering very much on the PC. Right now, it makes sense for us to focus on Xbox 360 for a number of reasons. Not least PCs with multiple configurations and piracy."
-Cliff Blezinsky, 2008 - on the subject of why no PC release for Gears of War 2

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Cliff-Bleszinski-Talks-About-Gears-of-War-2-And-Piracy-94464.shtml

I knew that he would eat those words.

Also I think the word "spoiled" is a bit of a poor choice of words. Yes it gives away the ending. But that's like saying "hey you know the movie Titanic? The ship sinks!" What has actually been spoiled?

Gears games have always been paint-by-numbers with utter failure at drama or consistent characterisation and storytelling. Ultimately their problem is that the actions in cutscenes completely contrast with the actual gameplay, the banter and actions of characters in game. They seem to think they can compartmentalise the story into just the cutscenes - failing to see how the gameplay affect character impressions and story.

 

[WilliamRLBaker]

Stop developing GOW for PC due to FUD of piracy. Get piracy on the 'safe' 360 instead. Karma / irony can suck sometimes....

I can understand, these damned PC pira... wait.

and yet PC piracy is still a vast ocean compared to the pond that is console piracy. Leaks of games are so common place on the PC no one reports on it.

 

[bbad89]

You know, Eidos embraced their leak and asked for feedback.

 

[Treblaine]

And I go, 'well, why did you go looking and why did you watch it?'"

Because people are morons.

And, honestly, this article is about a rather obvious subject, if you ask me. It's not like they're going to be overjoyed.

That's not the problem, the problem is people trolling. Using Cutscenes as a kind of rick-roll.

Also on image board like Troll Central 4Chan, people bombard spoilers all the time like "blah blah blah, no gaemz, PS: Marcus Fenix kills *****".

Wow, these days it'll be lucky if you avoided a leak.

Shame, but it shouldn't hurt the game too much, the release date is fairly close?

It's two whole months before release.

This is just about the worst time for a leak as 2-months is about the time that is needed for final QA and send off copies to all the Ratings and censorship boards around the world to wrangle the rating you want. So the game IS finished, it just needs the final Bureaucracy and disc printing.

 

[Treblaine]

Gears games have always been paint-by-numbers with utter failure at drama or consistent characterisation and storytelling. Ultimately their problem is that the actions in cutscenes completely contrast with the actual gameplay, the banter and actions of characters in game. They seem to think they can compartmentalise the story into just the cutscenes - failing to see how the gameplay affect character impressions and story.

I take it that you don't like the series? It's not really a surprise that people don't really play Gears for the story / characters. Pretty much everyone plays for the gameplay alone.

I'm kind of with that...

After playing gears of war I have to give props to the feel and design, but I don't like the gameplay so much. Too clunky and limited compared to similar titles like Uncharted. But I do find the in-game characterisation to be much more convincing and believable than the UNSKIPPABLE CUTSCENES!

OH fuck, the number of times they put a checkpoint immediately BEFORE an unskippable cutscene then an ambush where you likely die and have to watch the same cutsene again. And again. AND AGAIN!

My problem with the cutscenes is they are written like some 1990's trash comic book, the type that Linkara rips into. With such forced melodrama and contrived conflict.

But in game, the banter between characters in game worked much better, it contrasted with the cutscenes with such different tone and characterisation. It's like completely different writing teams were on gameplay writing and cutscene writing.

You know what, naturalistic banter IN GAME makes me care more about characters than cutscene melodrama! It takes itself too seriously in cutscenes.

If the cutscenes were ENTIRELY removed I'd say the game deserves a 10% higher score. No explanation for missing cutscenes, just replace the Cutscenes with a title card or just a jump cut.

 

[chronicfc]

Reading the title I got the image of Cliff Bleszinski being all depressed :'(

 

[ZeppMan217]

Take DXHR press build leak as an example. I was interested in the game before, but I was a bit uncertain of what to expect from a prequel to something as great and mighty as DX. So, I checked the press build, and it was good. Not exceptional, but good. Well worth $50 for sure. It was like a demo and I didn't even bother to complete it - an hour was more than enough to reassure my faith in DX franchise.
So, I really don't see the reason as to why he cries about the leak. Unless the game itself is shit.

 

[Samurai Silhouette]

Who plays GOW for the story anyways? To me, the only memorable piece of character was "walk it off pussy". But it does suck to have their time, money, and effort stolen. The console pirating community isn't big enough. Not many people can be assed to potentially mess up their system so it's not too easily accessible. Doubt it's going to have much of an impact.

 

[Gaias]

Why is it when I hear someone say 'it will ruin the game' they really mean 'it will ruin the story line'? Nothing is going to be spoiled by the gameplay as its in the third installment of the franchise and nothing but a few minor tweaks are ever made to fps anyways. Its only the story within the game that can be spoiled for anyone watching the videos as gameplay tends to repeat itself after you have learned it within the first 15 minutes of the game.

 

[night_chrono]

and yet PC piracy is still a vast ocean compared to the pond that is console piracy. Leaks of games are so common place on the PC no one reports on it.

I remember reading that 1 in 3 DS owners use a flashcart. Are 1 in 3 PC users pirates?